Emmy Rossum teams up with the Movember Foundation

Actress Emmy Rossum has teamed up with the Movember Foundation to help "start a dialogue" about men's health.

The charity hopes to encourage people to address issues including testicular and prostate cancer, mental health and physical inactivity. Now Shameless star Emmy has jumped on board because she feels women can be an important support network for their partners, male family members and friends.

"Obviously I always knew about the moustache thing that happens in November, but I didn't really know what it was about," she explained to People magazine. "When I learned more about it, I was kind of touched by the role that women play in men's lives in terms of encouraging them to lead a healthy life, to see doctors, to feel comfortable to talk about depression and mental health issues.

"It's important to start a dialogue, not only about the physical health issues that the men in our lives that we love, but also some of the things that they might not be as comfortable talking about that hopefully we can help illuminate and take the stigma away from talking about these things."

Every November, men are encouraged to grow their facial hair as a talking point for serious issues like the ones mentioned above. Many also raise money by not shaving.

In August (15), the 29-year-old became engaged to Sam Esmail after two years of dating. She hopes the 38-year-old writer, director and producer will be onboard with her new project as she's grown to love facial hair on men. "I'm into how it looks, I'm not into how it feels," she laughed.

Emmy married music executive Justin Siegel in 2008, but they split the following year and she's been open about what went wrong. “Honestly, I was so young, I don’t think I knew what marriage meant,” Emmy told America's Cosmopolitan magazine. “My parents were never married, and I was teased in school and called a b*****d. So the idea of marriage as safety forever was idealised in my head, and we rushed into it.”